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ISTANBUL—Voters across Turkey hit the polls on Sunday for the country’s first public presidential election, a watershed moment marked by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bid to reshape the political landscape under his leadership.

But with the premier set to cruise to Turkey’s top post with an aura of inevitability, the pivotal moment for the country’s increasingly polarized society seemed to arouse less interest than local elections in March.

Participation may have dropped by as much as half, according to poll observers in Istanbul—Turkey’s biggest city with an estimated 17 million people, about 20% of the country’s population. Almost 90% of the 53 million voters participated in the March 30 municipal elections, widely seen as a referendum on Mr. Erdogan, whose party got 46% nationwide support. Read More »

People in Turkey and beyond have taken to social media to show their support and remember those killed in the coal-mine blast in Soma. Visual messages of solidarity have been shared by students in Azerbaijan, as well as by workers building a stadium and high-school students from different cities in Turkey. Read More »